Apple'shoppers in 10 cities around the world suggest consumers share little of that negativity. (Pic by AP)TAIPEI: Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, a key supplier to Apple Inc, confirmed the death of an employee at its Zhengzhou plant in China which a labour group said was suicide.

Hon Hai, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronic products, is one of the largest private employers in China and has worked to improve labour conditions following a series of suicides in 2010-2011, mostly at its Shenzhen manufacturing operation.

The statement from Hon Hai, which goes by the trade name of Foxconn, came after watchdog China Labor Watch reported that a Foxconn worker committed suicide by jumping off a building at the Zhengzhou plant which makes Apple Inc's iPhone products.

In a statement, Hon Hai said that a 28-year-old male employee was found dead outside a building at its campus in Zhengzhou in the early morning of August 4.